Joe is on a tear today. Well, yeah, every day, but particularly today. Is everybody on CRACK or what? Sometimes, Joe thinks, if it weren't for the fame, the fortune, the kissing of much butt (his, thankfully), the breathing of the rarefied air in the fancy places to which he takes himself (McDougals's, Burger Prince, Mindy's; you get the idea), being a highly sought after and almost never hit directly in the face Legal Recruiter would NOT be worth it. Let Joe explain.
Twice this week. . .in other words, WAY more than once, Joe has been asked the craziest of questions, and heard the craziest of things. All to do with recruiting. And contracts. Recruiting and contracts. As if they weren't, you know, tied at the hip, metaphorically speaking.
Let Joe spell it out for you: We do NOT recruit for Law Firms without a signed, sealed, and spit-upon contract, ever, ever, ever. And we don't disclose the name of the Firm we're searching for an attorney for, never, never, never, until we receive a copy of your resume, writing sample, and transcript. That's it. That's all.
Joe has explained this on more than one occasion, but apparently someone (or some MANY) missed that day in class, so Joe will go over it again.
1. Law Firms: Joe loves Law Firms. Law Firms love Joe. Joe loves to find good attorneys for Law Firms so they can continue to be Law Firms, and gain in power and glory. Law Firms, believe it or don't, are simply FILLED with Lawyers. And Lawyers should know better than to ask a recruiter to initiate a search without a contract. And yet, time after time, Joe hears this line: "Oh, we don't sign contracts with Headhunters, but if you become aware of (Exact specifications on the type of lawyer(s) the firm is looking for), you're welcome to send their information."
Sure, because Joe has nothing better to do than initiate a search, find the perfect group of candidates, spend umpteen hours sifting and sorting, and collating, and so on, only to have a law firm say "Oh, I'm sorry, we only pay on candidates for which we have a contract with the external recruiter." It has happened before, and, as Riki Tiki Tavi said of the Cobras in his house "Once bitten, Twice Shy."
Joe can only imagine that there's some strange virus going around SOME law firms that makes Hiring Partners, Internal Recruiters, and HR Managers think that uttering those words, or words like them, could make sense to anyone but the addled.
First of all, it's not a contract for gallons of anyone's blood, or even a small child. It's not even an agreement to pay the External Recruiter for his/her work. All it says is, if JoeRecruiter FINDS you a candidate, and you then HIRE that candidate, Joe gets paid for FINDING the candidate for you. No hire, no pay. It's really kind of a no-lose proposition for the law firm, because it frees up their in-house staff to do the things they really NEED to do (hire first-years, summer associates, and para-professionals; administer HR; plan and staff and calculate, and figure, and make sure the PEOPLE side of the firm is running correctly).
The reason External Recruiters even exist is because there's a need for us, and it's not really a good use of internal staff's time to dig through HUNDREDS of resumes, mining for the few diamonds in the pile. Better to call a recruiter with knowledge of the market, the attorneys, and the available jobs, who entire purpose is to skim the cream and present it to the firm for its consideration.
Even Joe's good friend Crack Alley Sally gets THAT.
However, Law Firms are a JOY when compared to Lawyers, so let's rake the lawyers for a while.
2.Lawyers: Honestly, Lawyers sometimes make Joe wonder what is UP with the legal profession. Here's the thing: Your Legal Recruiter has relationships, usually good ones, sometimes GREAT ones, with Law Firms. If s/he's done a good job for them in the past, they're MUCH more likely to trust his/her judgment on a candidate than YOURS, because you're, well, YOU. Not to be harsh, but you're sort of biased toward your own candidacy.
Yeah, Joe is biased too, but he's looking at profiles of dozen and dozens, sometimes HUNDREDS of Lawyers, and he's GOING to find the 3 or 4 candidates that best fit what he thinks the Firm is looking for. It's in HIS best interest to do so. The more "perfect" candidates Joe places with Law Firm, Inc., the more they'll come to him, the more money he makes, and the happier he is.
There are other benefits to working with an External Recruiter. No, not just for Joe, but for Lawyers as well. External Recruiters have no obligation to anyone but the candidate. Yeah, we're looking for the benefit of the Law Firm, but we EXIST for the benefit of the Lawyer. A good legal recruiter knows the firms, from the inside out (just look at all the people s/he's placed there). S/he knows the good stuff AND the bad stuff, and everything in-between. S/he knows what firms are likely to be a good fit, and which ones are NOT, and s/he'll tell you the truth.
No, it's not because we're particularly ethical or moral, although those would be good reasons too. It's because a successful placement is only successful if you STAY with the law firm. If you don't, Joe doesn't get to keep the money, you won't trust Joe to find you the NEXT job that you now have to find because you HATE this one, and pretty soon, neither Law Firms NOR attorneys will use Joe to fill jobs, which will make Joe poor, and that would be bad. Joe doesn't do poor well.
For an attorney, job hunting without a Legal Recruiter is like going to trial without preparing. Yeah, you COULD do it, and it MIGHT turn out okay, but is it worth the risk? What if you find out you hate the job, or WORSE, they hate YOU? Assuming you don't get fired, you're going to have a short tenure at that firm, which will be almost as difficult to explain to the NEXT Law Firm, which might cost you the job, which means things'll get even worse at your present firm, until they actually MIGHT fire you, which will be even HARDER to explain to the next law firm, and so on. A good recruiter can help you avoid ALL that nonsense, cut through the clutter, and find the right job at the right firm, without a lot of headaches in between.
Joe knows what you're thinking. You're thinking "Yeah, maybe, Joe, maybe not, but I'm a Lawyer! A good one. A smart one. I'm cute and funny, and even potty-trained, and at the top of the employment food chain." All true. But so are many of the 700 OTHER attorneys who just submitted their resumes to that job board, and how will YOU cut through all the clutter to deliver YOUR message? Joe's just saying.
The bottom line is that Legal Recruiting, and Legal Recruiters, are here for a reason. We help Law Firms get better attorneys, and we help attorneys get better jobs. And, at the end of the day, that's a good enough reason to BE here.
Meanwhile, Joe worries about Crack Alley Sally. She wants to become a Lawyer.
Love your Recruiter!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Here, Fishy, Fishy, Fishy! Oh, and, uh, THANKS!
Actually, let's do this in reverse. Joe would like to thank you, and you, and, oh, especially YOU for the props, high-fives, and assorted accolades (how's that for alliteration?) y'all have bestowed on one JoeRecruiter. According to the people who get paid to find these things out (in other words, NotJoe), this is one of the fastest-moving blogs around. So, keep up the good work. Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell your FWBs. Tell yo' mama. And, absolutely, tell your in-house recruiters and all your associates. Spread the word. Joe likes feedback, even little snarky comments like you're about to read below (very BAD sentence construction; Joe is. . .ashamed).
Seriously, thanks for the support; Joe is touched. Joe and Co. will do our very best to keep this blog relevant, interesting, and, maybe just a little irreverent. Can Joe get a amen? Thanks. On to other details.
You're probably asking yourself "Self, what the hell do fishes have to do with Lawyerish Recruiting?", and no one could blame you. Imagine, if you will, the scene:
Joe is sitting at the JoeRecruiter PowerDesk, and, lo and by gum, the phone rings. Okay enough of that. I'm already tired of it.
Here's the deal: An associate at a very nice but not too special law firm returned Joe's call (you know how it goes: "Hey, Associate, this here's JoeRecruiter, and I have a job I think you might like. Hit me back, yo!"). Right out of the gate, no kisses, no flowers, the Associate (we'll call him Muttley) starts in on interrogation mode: "Who is this for? What about this? What about that? Do you get eggroll with six? Can you hear me now?" You know what Joe means.
Look, here's the down and dirty. When an ethical recruiter calls you about a position, the purpose of the call is to see if you're interested in an opportunity. We describe it generally, and, usually, the firm as well, but, you know, generally. There are two reasons for this.
First, and most important, virtually all firms want to know something about a candidate to find out if s/he fits their "model" of what they want in a new teammember, usually WAY before you find out their name. Second, we have agreements with the firms to conduct searches confidentially, and there are a lot of good, and some silly, reasons for this. You know, you're a beagle. . .beagles are cagey.
The upshot of all of this is that if you call back with a ton of questions that you want answered before you're willing to let Joe, or any other recruiter, "see what you got," you're gonna be depressed, and you're still not gonna get the information. Our job is to find candidates that fit the pattern the Law Firm drew, not the other way around. Don't worry about YOUR information getting out. Now, Joe KNOWS that there are some dork recruiters out there, but they're widely known, and so are their methods, and, anyway, there's a simple solution. You simply notify the recruiter that your info is confidential and can't be released without your permission.
In Joe's case, I generally ask a bunch of questions about your practice, your comp. level, your caseload, hourly rate, and so on. Find out what you like and don't like. Are you ready to move or just looking. Red wine or white. (just kidding). But, after the first discussion, Joe isn't ready to paper the world with your resume. . .it's just like a blind date, you know? Joe is sizing you up. And it's an important part of the process, even if it IS a little silly.
When an associate starts looking for all kinds of information (we call if "fishing a dry lake," or some other colorful expression, thus the term "fishing"), we mostly figure you're not interested, or, even more importantly, that you're gonna be a pain to work with. And that's okay too, except get THIS: Joe doesn't need a job. Joe isn't LOOKING for a job. Joe HAS a job. And, even if you're the greatest Associate in the world, and even your DOG calls you Stud ("Yo, Stud, 'sup?!"), things could change in an instant, and you could be fighting your dog for access to the food bowl. If you don't believe me, just check out the "Newsline" any week. And there's NO attorney harder to place than one who isn't working.
More to the point, placements rarely occur quickly. For example, even if Joe LOVES you, and you love Joe, and you're DEFINITELY looking to move, building a profile, sending all the information to the firm, getting back their response (and YES takes a LOT longer than NO), and on, and on, can take, LITERALLY, months. And this is if they LIKE you.
So, here, in semi-condensed form, is Joe's advice for the working attorney:
1. You are NOT irreplaceable, and you have less than no control over what's going to happen at your firm. Even if they love you, things could change. Accordingly, you should ALWAYS be scanning the horizon, so, at the very least, you know what's out there, and your level of marketability.
2. When a recruiter calls you about an ACTUAL position, it generally means that they've learned enough about you to think you might be a fit for the position. Only stupid recruiters call with empty hands, and empty hands don't get paid.
3. An ethical recruiter will almost never reveal the client's name to you before they have you on paper in THEIR hands. That's as it should be. After all, if they'll give the law firm's name up to you without approval, how do you know they won't give YOU up to a law firm the same way?
4. We know, we KNOW! Recruiting calls are a pain in the butt. The only people who like them less than attorneys are recruiters. Frankly, Joe'd prefer it if all of the resumes of qualified attorneys would appear on his desk underneath the Job Order, in a neat little pile, so he didn't have to squander 80% of his day dodging, ducking, weaving, and jabbing, just to leave you a message about a job that you might, Joe said MIGHT. . .love. However, the device that accomplishes all this is still in development, so UNTIL that time, Joe needs to call YOU, and YOU need to call him back.
5. Remember, you either PROVIDE dinner, or you ARE dinner. Go ahead, be sarcastic, BE testy. . .get an attitude. Joe will leave you alone. For ever and ever, and EVER. You don't wanna be bothered, hey, it ain't no thing. I won't call you again. Even when your firm implodes and the MP decides to cut staff by 20%, I will NEVER make your phone ring. You want it, you got it. In fact, do me a favor, and LOSE MY NUMBER. However, six months later, don't be surprised if you get an email saying "told you so."
6. Even if you have the greatest job in the world, it's a good idea to have a current copy of EVERYTHING, which is to say, a PROFESSIONAL resume, a most excellent writing sample, a copy of your transcripts (unofficial is fine for the first "data dump"), and, if you're truly inspired, a sort of "Profile" that lists things you KNOW a law firm would want to know: Area(s) of practice, and time in each; significant work or cases; annual comp. level (Base level, base plus bonus, Total Comp); hourly rate and annualized billable hours, plus explanations for any squirrelly formulas; key needs (why I'd move, IF I moved, which I haven't said I'm going to do, yet); you know, a sort of "You, on Paper" only better. Take all of this and convert it into a file you can just email, and you're home and happening, and it's only a few minutes of your time once the major work is done.
7. Make a "wish list" of places, or situations, that would inspire you, or that you'd be prepared to move for. Even if you're "dug in" at your firm, SECONDS away from being made partner, if you get a call, you can at least say "Well, I'm very happy here, but if there was a job that had THIS (your wish list), I might be interested." Who knows? Next month, next week, heck, maybe even tomorrow, a firm could call with the job-O'-your-dreams. It could happen! Actually, it happens every day.
8. Finally, be NICE to the recruiter. Remember, law firms may call us, but the truth of the matter is that it's our job to find the perfect job for YOU (you being the candidate, wise guy). When we make a perfect placement, everybody wins: The Law Firm, 'cuz they found the right beagle; You, 'cuz you found the right job; your dog, 'cuz now he doesn't have to share his Kibbles 'n Bits with YOU; and, of course, the noble, shy, warm and friendly, almost puppyish JoeRecruiter, because he gets paid, which means he can now give even more money to HotsyTotsyJoe, about which, the less said the better. See, it's ALL good!
Remember, love your recruiter. Just don't LOVE your recruiter. And it wouldn't kill you to maybe pick up the phone now and then would it? Call your mother.
Seriously, thanks for the support; Joe is touched. Joe and Co. will do our very best to keep this blog relevant, interesting, and, maybe just a little irreverent. Can Joe get a amen? Thanks. On to other details.
You're probably asking yourself "Self, what the hell do fishes have to do with Lawyerish Recruiting?", and no one could blame you. Imagine, if you will, the scene:
Joe is sitting at the JoeRecruiter PowerDesk, and, lo and by gum, the phone rings. Okay enough of that. I'm already tired of it.
Here's the deal: An associate at a very nice but not too special law firm returned Joe's call (you know how it goes: "Hey, Associate, this here's JoeRecruiter, and I have a job I think you might like. Hit me back, yo!"). Right out of the gate, no kisses, no flowers, the Associate (we'll call him Muttley) starts in on interrogation mode: "Who is this for? What about this? What about that? Do you get eggroll with six? Can you hear me now?" You know what Joe means.
Look, here's the down and dirty. When an ethical recruiter calls you about a position, the purpose of the call is to see if you're interested in an opportunity. We describe it generally, and, usually, the firm as well, but, you know, generally. There are two reasons for this.
First, and most important, virtually all firms want to know something about a candidate to find out if s/he fits their "model" of what they want in a new teammember, usually WAY before you find out their name. Second, we have agreements with the firms to conduct searches confidentially, and there are a lot of good, and some silly, reasons for this. You know, you're a beagle. . .beagles are cagey.
The upshot of all of this is that if you call back with a ton of questions that you want answered before you're willing to let Joe, or any other recruiter, "see what you got," you're gonna be depressed, and you're still not gonna get the information. Our job is to find candidates that fit the pattern the Law Firm drew, not the other way around. Don't worry about YOUR information getting out. Now, Joe KNOWS that there are some dork recruiters out there, but they're widely known, and so are their methods, and, anyway, there's a simple solution. You simply notify the recruiter that your info is confidential and can't be released without your permission.
In Joe's case, I generally ask a bunch of questions about your practice, your comp. level, your caseload, hourly rate, and so on. Find out what you like and don't like. Are you ready to move or just looking. Red wine or white. (just kidding). But, after the first discussion, Joe isn't ready to paper the world with your resume. . .it's just like a blind date, you know? Joe is sizing you up. And it's an important part of the process, even if it IS a little silly.
When an associate starts looking for all kinds of information (we call if "fishing a dry lake," or some other colorful expression, thus the term "fishing"), we mostly figure you're not interested, or, even more importantly, that you're gonna be a pain to work with. And that's okay too, except get THIS: Joe doesn't need a job. Joe isn't LOOKING for a job. Joe HAS a job. And, even if you're the greatest Associate in the world, and even your DOG calls you Stud ("Yo, Stud, 'sup?!"), things could change in an instant, and you could be fighting your dog for access to the food bowl. If you don't believe me, just check out the "Newsline" any week. And there's NO attorney harder to place than one who isn't working.
More to the point, placements rarely occur quickly. For example, even if Joe LOVES you, and you love Joe, and you're DEFINITELY looking to move, building a profile, sending all the information to the firm, getting back their response (and YES takes a LOT longer than NO), and on, and on, can take, LITERALLY, months. And this is if they LIKE you.
So, here, in semi-condensed form, is Joe's advice for the working attorney:
1. You are NOT irreplaceable, and you have less than no control over what's going to happen at your firm. Even if they love you, things could change. Accordingly, you should ALWAYS be scanning the horizon, so, at the very least, you know what's out there, and your level of marketability.
2. When a recruiter calls you about an ACTUAL position, it generally means that they've learned enough about you to think you might be a fit for the position. Only stupid recruiters call with empty hands, and empty hands don't get paid.
3. An ethical recruiter will almost never reveal the client's name to you before they have you on paper in THEIR hands. That's as it should be. After all, if they'll give the law firm's name up to you without approval, how do you know they won't give YOU up to a law firm the same way?
4. We know, we KNOW! Recruiting calls are a pain in the butt. The only people who like them less than attorneys are recruiters. Frankly, Joe'd prefer it if all of the resumes of qualified attorneys would appear on his desk underneath the Job Order, in a neat little pile, so he didn't have to squander 80% of his day dodging, ducking, weaving, and jabbing, just to leave you a message about a job that you might, Joe said MIGHT. . .love. However, the device that accomplishes all this is still in development, so UNTIL that time, Joe needs to call YOU, and YOU need to call him back.
5. Remember, you either PROVIDE dinner, or you ARE dinner. Go ahead, be sarcastic, BE testy. . .get an attitude. Joe will leave you alone. For ever and ever, and EVER. You don't wanna be bothered, hey, it ain't no thing. I won't call you again. Even when your firm implodes and the MP decides to cut staff by 20%, I will NEVER make your phone ring. You want it, you got it. In fact, do me a favor, and LOSE MY NUMBER. However, six months later, don't be surprised if you get an email saying "told you so."
6. Even if you have the greatest job in the world, it's a good idea to have a current copy of EVERYTHING, which is to say, a PROFESSIONAL resume, a most excellent writing sample, a copy of your transcripts (unofficial is fine for the first "data dump"), and, if you're truly inspired, a sort of "Profile" that lists things you KNOW a law firm would want to know: Area(s) of practice, and time in each; significant work or cases; annual comp. level (Base level, base plus bonus, Total Comp); hourly rate and annualized billable hours, plus explanations for any squirrelly formulas; key needs (why I'd move, IF I moved, which I haven't said I'm going to do, yet); you know, a sort of "You, on Paper" only better. Take all of this and convert it into a file you can just email, and you're home and happening, and it's only a few minutes of your time once the major work is done.
7. Make a "wish list" of places, or situations, that would inspire you, or that you'd be prepared to move for. Even if you're "dug in" at your firm, SECONDS away from being made partner, if you get a call, you can at least say "Well, I'm very happy here, but if there was a job that had THIS (your wish list), I might be interested." Who knows? Next month, next week, heck, maybe even tomorrow, a firm could call with the job-O'-your-dreams. It could happen! Actually, it happens every day.
8. Finally, be NICE to the recruiter. Remember, law firms may call us, but the truth of the matter is that it's our job to find the perfect job for YOU (you being the candidate, wise guy). When we make a perfect placement, everybody wins: The Law Firm, 'cuz they found the right beagle; You, 'cuz you found the right job; your dog, 'cuz now he doesn't have to share his Kibbles 'n Bits with YOU; and, of course, the noble, shy, warm and friendly, almost puppyish JoeRecruiter, because he gets paid, which means he can now give even more money to HotsyTotsyJoe, about which, the less said the better. See, it's ALL good!
Remember, love your recruiter. Just don't LOVE your recruiter. And it wouldn't kill you to maybe pick up the phone now and then would it? Call your mother.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Bunnies, and Beagles, and Muffins, Oh My!
So, you've probably heard some of the terms we in the Legal Recruiting world use to describe you. No, not the dirty words we use to DESCRIBE you. . .rather the way we classify you. Here is a primer of some words that have been used to describe people, places, and things in the profession. They have the JoeSpin (tm) on them, but, as we all know, Joe is in the know. So if you use them in any other context, you're probably working with some punk at Wussy, Sissy, and Girly, instead of a Real Recruiter. Joe will have more to say on this crap later.
First of all, all lawyers are attorneys which are lawyers, which are BEAGLES. This was born in the middle of a Sushi Storm with both hot AND cold Sake. Joe thinks someone was trying to say "Legal Eagle," but it seemed like too much work, so now, all Legal Eagles are Beagles. As in "I don't know, Mr. Fanucci, but let me call my Beagle, and we'll find out if this dead body in your cafe is a bad thing."
Bunnies: (bunny, singular): You. At least, when you first come out of school. See how cute you are with your little ears and your little tails, just EARNEST and HOPEFUL, and so SOFT and, well, BUNNY-Like. You'll be a bunny until you're a Third-Year at which time you'll become a
Joey or Freshman: Not as bad as a bunny, but, still, you know, in many ways, like a Bunny, but older. For those of you so disposed, don't ever EVER call yourself a "FROSH." You will be ridiculed from New York to LA and everywhere in between. Joe will make sure of it. However, if you mind your manners, and become a good multi-year associate, start to develop a practice and a following, eventually, you will become (music please), a
Stud: Again, not gender-specific. It's like "dude." You are either "dude" or you are "not dude." In California, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, and many other cool cities, you're actually allowed to smack someone who says "dudette," or something else equally lame, and Joe supports that rule with stud. Boy or girl, woman or man, if you're a stud, you're a stud, and if you're not, you're not. If you're not, don't call Joe, because Joe only deals with studs. Call one of the BigBoys.
BigBoy: One of the national/international/world-wide, multi-cultural, multi-office, soup to nuts, "we do it all for you" recruiting practices that know less about Legal Recruiting than Joe does about Bikini Waxing (although you'd be surprised). Or one of the bigBIG Legal Recruiting houses that are the same kind of operation, with many more recruiters than there are jobs, and not one single personal relationship with a law firm at all. What Joe doesn't ever want to be. It's like BigLaw to Lawyers. They're more about quantity than quality, at least in the "early years." But Joe, and even the BigBoys, need BigLaw for our Joeys and Studs. See, it's a circle of life. . .Sir Elton would be so pleased. Come, Simba.
Finally, a word has to be said about where all (or most, anyway) of this lingo comes from. Some of you may be thinking, "Of Course, Johnny Lingo!" but in this case, you would be wrong. No, Joe learned almost everything he knows, and a great deal of what he doesn't know, from BigDaddy PapaJoe. BigDaddy PapaJoe is the last of the great Legal Recruiters. Sadly, he is no longer recruiting, having burnt out trying to predict which of the BigLaw firms would be the first to reach a Million Dollars PPP. He had index cards and everything. Joe still remembers the last time he saw BigDaddy PapaJoe, in four-point restraints, being dragged off to the state Hospital, where he rots to this day, handicapping cockroaches for the weekly tournaments. There's a lesson here, although Joe doesn't know what it could possibly be.
Oh yeah, I remember: Love your Legal Recruiter. That's always good advice.
First of all, all lawyers are attorneys which are lawyers, which are BEAGLES. This was born in the middle of a Sushi Storm with both hot AND cold Sake. Joe thinks someone was trying to say "Legal Eagle," but it seemed like too much work, so now, all Legal Eagles are Beagles. As in "I don't know, Mr. Fanucci, but let me call my Beagle, and we'll find out if this dead body in your cafe is a bad thing."
Bunnies: (bunny, singular): You. At least, when you first come out of school. See how cute you are with your little ears and your little tails, just EARNEST and HOPEFUL, and so SOFT and, well, BUNNY-Like. You'll be a bunny until you're a Third-Year at which time you'll become a
Joey or Freshman: Not as bad as a bunny, but, still, you know, in many ways, like a Bunny, but older. For those of you so disposed, don't ever EVER call yourself a "FROSH." You will be ridiculed from New York to LA and everywhere in between. Joe will make sure of it. However, if you mind your manners, and become a good multi-year associate, start to develop a practice and a following, eventually, you will become (music please), a
Stud: Again, not gender-specific. It's like "dude." You are either "dude" or you are "not dude." In California, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, and many other cool cities, you're actually allowed to smack someone who says "dudette," or something else equally lame, and Joe supports that rule with stud. Boy or girl, woman or man, if you're a stud, you're a stud, and if you're not, you're not. If you're not, don't call Joe, because Joe only deals with studs. Call one of the BigBoys.
BigBoy: One of the national/international/world-wide, multi-cultural, multi-office, soup to nuts, "we do it all for you" recruiting practices that know less about Legal Recruiting than Joe does about Bikini Waxing (although you'd be surprised). Or one of the bigBIG Legal Recruiting houses that are the same kind of operation, with many more recruiters than there are jobs, and not one single personal relationship with a law firm at all. What Joe doesn't ever want to be. It's like BigLaw to Lawyers. They're more about quantity than quality, at least in the "early years." But Joe, and even the BigBoys, need BigLaw for our Joeys and Studs. See, it's a circle of life. . .Sir Elton would be so pleased. Come, Simba.
Finally, a word has to be said about where all (or most, anyway) of this lingo comes from. Some of you may be thinking, "Of Course, Johnny Lingo!" but in this case, you would be wrong. No, Joe learned almost everything he knows, and a great deal of what he doesn't know, from BigDaddy PapaJoe. BigDaddy PapaJoe is the last of the great Legal Recruiters. Sadly, he is no longer recruiting, having burnt out trying to predict which of the BigLaw firms would be the first to reach a Million Dollars PPP. He had index cards and everything. Joe still remembers the last time he saw BigDaddy PapaJoe, in four-point restraints, being dragged off to the state Hospital, where he rots to this day, handicapping cockroaches for the weekly tournaments. There's a lesson here, although Joe doesn't know what it could possibly be.
Oh yeah, I remember: Love your Legal Recruiter. That's always good advice.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Comes Now The Flood-Questions, we get Questions!
Already it's starting. JoeRecruiter takes just a little snack break, and all heck breaks loose. I kid you not, twenty minutes after the first post and Joe's cell phone was ringing off his very stylish and not at all cheap belt. The "mail call" bong was clanging in Joe's sensitive ears. It was a madhouse. Joe needed a Red Bull and he needed one quick (hey, if it's good enough for Madonna, it's good enough for Joe).
Fine, questions you got, answers Joe's got. Hands, please. Let's with the hands!
1. SO, UH, JOE, SHOULD I JUST GO WITH ANY LEGAL RECRUITER, OR, YOU KNOW A SPECIALIST? Let us ask one of our female guests who she'd rather have her pelvic completed by. . .just any old doc (or, come to think of it, a dentist or a vet), or a specialist. What do YOU think, Sherman? A specialist, of course. By which, I mean, not just someone who recruits Legal on Thursday, and Medical on Friday, and Engineering on Tuesday, and Accountants on Wed. . .you know what I mean. I mean, you should go with someone who KNOWS law firms and legal recruiting, and does it full time. Does it have to be Bigge Fatte & Huge, Mega Recruiting Firm of the Gods? Sure, if you want to be one of the THOUSANDS of potential recruits they want (NEED) to place. Think about it. . .how many placements do they HAVE to make a month, week, day, hour to pay for that very expensive real estate inside the corridors of power in EVERY major city in the U S of A?
So, if you're the Hiring Partner at Picky and Snippy and Snaub, LLC, WHICH recruiter are you going to call first with the plum assignment. . .the one that HAS to fill four before lunch, or the one that has time to go through their files, find exactly the perfect candidate or three, and submit them, knowing that the odds on bet is that at least one of them will fit your candidate profile like a wet glove? Right, that's what Joe is saying. Little else needs to be said.
2. WHAT ABOUT THEM THERE "MARKETING CAMPAIGN" WEBSITES, AND BY THE WAY, SHOULD I EVER HAVE TO PAY TO BE PRESENTED? Let's do part B first. Joe says this emphatically: You should NEVER ever have to pay to have your credentials presented to a law firm, and if you're ever asked to pay anything (even postage), you should run away screaming. And tell your friends. Your enemies, you can send there. No ethical recruiter would ever ask a candidate to pay to present them. No ethical recruiter would ever present you without your knowledge. No ethical recruiter would ever present you by name without your prior consent. And NO ethical recruiter would ever contact you about a position without an actual assignment.
Now, having said all the above, Joe will on occasion call a potential candidate to assess their interest in an "unnamed" position: "Bobby, this is JoeRecruiter calling about a position for a third-year associate with a major law firm who has significant experience in Pigeon Rights. If this is of interest to you or someone of your acquaintance, please call me at 777-888-9999." In this case, if you called back and said "Joe, Bobby LOVES Pigeon Rights, it's all I dream about," Joe would call the Firm (Feather, Flutter, Fluff, PA) and say "Firm, this is JoeRecruiter, and I have a third-year with significant experience in Pigeon Rights who might be willing to move for the right offer. If the position is available still, please call Joe." And there you are.
As far as "Legal Marketing Campaigns," Joe believes that's a buncha armadilla crap. They claim to have proof. Joe suggests you ask for the proof, in writing. When you send it to Joe, he will apologise. And not one second before. Joe DOES think this COULD work, in the same way that SOME attorneys DO get hired off websites and by submitting to Law Firms' own portals, but, again, if this is you, Joe wonders why you're not doing something better with your time, and by the way, so do the smart law firms.
3. WHAT ABOUT PARTNERS, JOE? YOU DIDN'T SAY A BLOODY THING ABOUT PARTNERS, JOE!
Joe is a very bad person. You're right, Joe gave the partners short shrift, and he apologizes. For the record, so do the firms. They HATE to call Joe for Partners because they don't like to pay the fees. In fact, this past week, Joe got a call from a person who shall remain nameless but who works for a very big law firm in a very dynamic city, which law firm is losing partners like Joe is losing his hair. The charming Attorney Recruiter flat out told Joe s/he would NOT pay for Partners but, if Joe knew of a Partner with 10 years of experience in Veeblefetzers and a portable book, they would "consider" signing a contract for (get this!) future placements.
Joe thanked the Recruiter for his/her time, and pointed out that he knew of just such a partner, who he was going to recommend to VBLF's major competitor, now that he knew they had a weakness in that department. Of course, he didn't say it out loud. What he did say was "As a matter of fact, I DO know of such a person, but before I could present him/her, I'd need a signed copy of our contract before we could proceed. If you prefer, we'd be happy to look at YOUR standard contract." Not just no, but "NAY!" said the Recruiter, and POOF, the Firm was PREY said the Joe. Welcome to the jungle, you tender morsel, you.
Partners are great, but law firms get WAY too skitchy about them. They're harder to place, take a LOT more time to develop, present, schedule, and so on, and they're a LOT of work. It's SO not worth doing all that work if the hiring firm doesn't want to pay the fee, because it takes Joe away from smooth, easy placements that happen fairly quickly. If you're a partner, and you want to move, you should contact a recruiter yourself, and start the ball rolling. Law firms LOVE to hire partners, especially if you have portable business, and most of it will stay with you. The closer you are to a million dollars or more in final portable business, the easier you are to place.
Finally, entire partner groups, especially successful ones, are rock solid gold, but you should be ready to move fairly quickly, because when the deal solidifies, you'll have to move fast. The concept of, um, "glacial preparation" does not hold in group moves.
4. I'M PRETTY SURE I WANT TO MOVE FIRMS FOR (INSERT HERE) REASON. WHEN SHOULD I MAKE THE MOVE?
There really is no best BEST time, but there is a worst time, and that is any time you have less than three years in at the associate level. Before then, your "market value" is relatively unproven; you have no "street cred", even if you're the winningest attorney in your field. There's also a worse time to go when you're a partner, and that is when you're on the "other side" of being the "golden boy" or "golden girl" for a practice. For example, there's an attorney in one firm who is the darling of a particular legal community; head of the local office, extremely good at one particular area of the law, just a shining star. We're telling him/her that NOW is the time to make a deal. S/he wants to wait a year or two, until things "quiet down." Joe pointed out that, when things get the quietest is right AFTER your funeral. S/he didn't appreciate the comment, but Joe is right. You're only a rainmaker while the rains come. No more rain, no more rainmaker. (Or as Joe's favorite French grandmother used to say "Even the BEST Rooster will eventually end up in a pot.")
And, Finally, (Oh, Thank (Insert Whomever Here)!),
5. JOE, I LOVE YOU; I WANT YOU TO REPRESENT ME; MY LAW FIRM WANTS TO HAVE YOU REPRESENT US; (I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABY, JOE; YOU FUNNY GUY, JOE; LOVE YOU LONG TIME, ETC.).
Flattered as Joe is, this is really a public service to the Legal Community. Ah, I see the confusion on your little legal faces. Hmmmmmmm. I got it. . . it's like Pro Bono for Lawyers. The purpose of this blog is to teach, to break down the walls of hysteria, confusion, myth, legend, and extremism, and replace them with rationality, logic, and, well, a certain amount of style.
Joe wants the Law Firm to LOVE the outside Legal Recruiter. Joe wants the professional Legal Recruiter to LOVE the Law Firm. Joe wants the practicing attorney to keep practicing, not go off on some search for meaning that will never end. If you went to law school, you were meant to be a lawyer, on some level. Okay, maybe not, but having the wrong job doesn't mean that you picked the wrong life. At least, it doesn't have to.
More importantly, Joe wants to make enough money to buy the CUTEST little island off the coast of Costa Rica, and he can't do that if you yoyos keep fighting. Okay, I'm kidding. I already HAVE enough money. What I want is power. Lots and lots of power. And hair. Lots and lots of hair. Yup, that's it. Power, and Hair. Mostly hair.
Keep them questions coming. I'll treat them with all the respect they deserve. Honest!
Fine, questions you got, answers Joe's got. Hands, please. Let's with the hands!
1. SO, UH, JOE, SHOULD I JUST GO WITH ANY LEGAL RECRUITER, OR, YOU KNOW A SPECIALIST? Let us ask one of our female guests who she'd rather have her pelvic completed by. . .just any old doc (or, come to think of it, a dentist or a vet), or a specialist. What do YOU think, Sherman? A specialist, of course. By which, I mean, not just someone who recruits Legal on Thursday, and Medical on Friday, and Engineering on Tuesday, and Accountants on Wed. . .you know what I mean. I mean, you should go with someone who KNOWS law firms and legal recruiting, and does it full time. Does it have to be Bigge Fatte & Huge, Mega Recruiting Firm of the Gods? Sure, if you want to be one of the THOUSANDS of potential recruits they want (NEED) to place. Think about it. . .how many placements do they HAVE to make a month, week, day, hour to pay for that very expensive real estate inside the corridors of power in EVERY major city in the U S of A?
So, if you're the Hiring Partner at Picky and Snippy and Snaub, LLC, WHICH recruiter are you going to call first with the plum assignment. . .the one that HAS to fill four before lunch, or the one that has time to go through their files, find exactly the perfect candidate or three, and submit them, knowing that the odds on bet is that at least one of them will fit your candidate profile like a wet glove? Right, that's what Joe is saying. Little else needs to be said.
2. WHAT ABOUT THEM THERE "MARKETING CAMPAIGN" WEBSITES, AND BY THE WAY, SHOULD I EVER HAVE TO PAY TO BE PRESENTED? Let's do part B first. Joe says this emphatically: You should NEVER ever have to pay to have your credentials presented to a law firm, and if you're ever asked to pay anything (even postage), you should run away screaming. And tell your friends. Your enemies, you can send there. No ethical recruiter would ever ask a candidate to pay to present them. No ethical recruiter would ever present you without your knowledge. No ethical recruiter would ever present you by name without your prior consent. And NO ethical recruiter would ever contact you about a position without an actual assignment.
Now, having said all the above, Joe will on occasion call a potential candidate to assess their interest in an "unnamed" position: "Bobby, this is JoeRecruiter calling about a position for a third-year associate with a major law firm who has significant experience in Pigeon Rights. If this is of interest to you or someone of your acquaintance, please call me at 777-888-9999." In this case, if you called back and said "Joe, Bobby LOVES Pigeon Rights, it's all I dream about," Joe would call the Firm (Feather, Flutter, Fluff, PA) and say "Firm, this is JoeRecruiter, and I have a third-year with significant experience in Pigeon Rights who might be willing to move for the right offer. If the position is available still, please call Joe." And there you are.
As far as "Legal Marketing Campaigns," Joe believes that's a buncha armadilla crap. They claim to have proof. Joe suggests you ask for the proof, in writing. When you send it to Joe, he will apologise. And not one second before. Joe DOES think this COULD work, in the same way that SOME attorneys DO get hired off websites and by submitting to Law Firms' own portals, but, again, if this is you, Joe wonders why you're not doing something better with your time, and by the way, so do the smart law firms.
3. WHAT ABOUT PARTNERS, JOE? YOU DIDN'T SAY A BLOODY THING ABOUT PARTNERS, JOE!
Joe is a very bad person. You're right, Joe gave the partners short shrift, and he apologizes. For the record, so do the firms. They HATE to call Joe for Partners because they don't like to pay the fees. In fact, this past week, Joe got a call from a person who shall remain nameless but who works for a very big law firm in a very dynamic city, which law firm is losing partners like Joe is losing his hair. The charming Attorney Recruiter flat out told Joe s/he would NOT pay for Partners but, if Joe knew of a Partner with 10 years of experience in Veeblefetzers and a portable book, they would "consider" signing a contract for (get this!) future placements.
Joe thanked the Recruiter for his/her time, and pointed out that he knew of just such a partner, who he was going to recommend to VBLF's major competitor, now that he knew they had a weakness in that department. Of course, he didn't say it out loud. What he did say was "As a matter of fact, I DO know of such a person, but before I could present him/her, I'd need a signed copy of our contract before we could proceed. If you prefer, we'd be happy to look at YOUR standard contract." Not just no, but "NAY!" said the Recruiter, and POOF, the Firm was PREY said the Joe. Welcome to the jungle, you tender morsel, you.
Partners are great, but law firms get WAY too skitchy about them. They're harder to place, take a LOT more time to develop, present, schedule, and so on, and they're a LOT of work. It's SO not worth doing all that work if the hiring firm doesn't want to pay the fee, because it takes Joe away from smooth, easy placements that happen fairly quickly. If you're a partner, and you want to move, you should contact a recruiter yourself, and start the ball rolling. Law firms LOVE to hire partners, especially if you have portable business, and most of it will stay with you. The closer you are to a million dollars or more in final portable business, the easier you are to place.
Finally, entire partner groups, especially successful ones, are rock solid gold, but you should be ready to move fairly quickly, because when the deal solidifies, you'll have to move fast. The concept of, um, "glacial preparation" does not hold in group moves.
4. I'M PRETTY SURE I WANT TO MOVE FIRMS FOR (INSERT HERE) REASON. WHEN SHOULD I MAKE THE MOVE?
There really is no best BEST time, but there is a worst time, and that is any time you have less than three years in at the associate level. Before then, your "market value" is relatively unproven; you have no "street cred", even if you're the winningest attorney in your field. There's also a worse time to go when you're a partner, and that is when you're on the "other side" of being the "golden boy" or "golden girl" for a practice. For example, there's an attorney in one firm who is the darling of a particular legal community; head of the local office, extremely good at one particular area of the law, just a shining star. We're telling him/her that NOW is the time to make a deal. S/he wants to wait a year or two, until things "quiet down." Joe pointed out that, when things get the quietest is right AFTER your funeral. S/he didn't appreciate the comment, but Joe is right. You're only a rainmaker while the rains come. No more rain, no more rainmaker. (Or as Joe's favorite French grandmother used to say "Even the BEST Rooster will eventually end up in a pot.")
And, Finally, (Oh, Thank (Insert Whomever Here)!),
5. JOE, I LOVE YOU; I WANT YOU TO REPRESENT ME; MY LAW FIRM WANTS TO HAVE YOU REPRESENT US; (I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABY, JOE; YOU FUNNY GUY, JOE; LOVE YOU LONG TIME, ETC.).
Flattered as Joe is, this is really a public service to the Legal Community. Ah, I see the confusion on your little legal faces. Hmmmmmmm. I got it. . . it's like Pro Bono for Lawyers. The purpose of this blog is to teach, to break down the walls of hysteria, confusion, myth, legend, and extremism, and replace them with rationality, logic, and, well, a certain amount of style.
Joe wants the Law Firm to LOVE the outside Legal Recruiter. Joe wants the professional Legal Recruiter to LOVE the Law Firm. Joe wants the practicing attorney to keep practicing, not go off on some search for meaning that will never end. If you went to law school, you were meant to be a lawyer, on some level. Okay, maybe not, but having the wrong job doesn't mean that you picked the wrong life. At least, it doesn't have to.
More importantly, Joe wants to make enough money to buy the CUTEST little island off the coast of Costa Rica, and he can't do that if you yoyos keep fighting. Okay, I'm kidding. I already HAVE enough money. What I want is power. Lots and lots of power. And hair. Lots and lots of hair. Yup, that's it. Power, and Hair. Mostly hair.
Keep them questions coming. I'll treat them with all the respect they deserve. Honest!
What Every Legal Recruiter Wishes You Knew But Is Afraid To Tell You
There are things we wish you knew; things we wish we could tell you, both attorneys and law firms, but, frankly, we are ascared. Scared you won't listen. Scared you will listen. Scared you'll listen and ignore us. More importantly, scared it won't matter.
However, JoeRecruiter, after, frankly, YEARS of listening to the whining, the crying, the shrill, constant BEGGING, is here for you, my young scholars. Yes, like Sister Mary, I'm going to "Explain It All" for you. With considerably less bloodshed, I hope. And infinitely less humor.
First, the rules. We gots to have rules. They are few, but vital. First, this is a collection of wisdom gleaned, collected, in some cases beaten out of Legal Recruiters, Associates, Law Firms, Law Firm Recruiters, and various and sundry other folks, some of them even more unsavory than the abovementioned. Second, all the stories are to some extent true. That is to say, the essential facts are true. However, I might have changed a fact here or there to protect the name of a BigLaw firm, for which I doubt I'll ever receive any credit. On the other hand, I might have blamed a BigLaw firm when really it was Ma-N-Pa-Law. I'm crafty that way. Third, you will most likely recognize yourself in these lines, so don't look too closely. Fourth, in the movies, you learned that, sometimes, resistance is NOT futile. Here, it almost certainly is.
So, what is it about Law Firms, and Law Firm Recruiting in general, that generates SO MUCH trouble in the profession? Could it be that Lawyers are just dyspeptic in general? (Yes). Could it be that the very things that make them good at Lawyering are the very things that lead to so much professional dissatisfaction? (Yes). Could it be that I'm just wasting time trying to find out how to lead in to the cold, bloody meat of the subject? (Again, yes).
Here it is then: Lawyers are trained to be unsatisfied with surface elements, to dig and probe, and search, and analyze, and look even deeper. Applied to themselves, this quickly becomes a source of immense professional dissatisfaction. Some, who, prior to this awareness were always capable of sublimating their dissatisfaction into a drive for performance lose the ability, and they leave the profession.
However, before it gets to that, many in the profession look to change jobs, and that's where I come in. Or rather me and others like me (to be completely accurate, others who aspire to BE like me). Law Firms don't particularly care for outside Legal Recruiters either because they're a) they're dorks; or b) they have WAAAAAAYYYYYY too much time on their hands; or c) both, plus they're filled with control freaks, too; and d) they're tight-asses, and don't know how to spend money wisely. We'll deal with this last one later.
However, it's a total waste of time for most law firms to select lateral associates virtually anytime. First of all, there are too many to go through, unless you have nothing better to do. Second, any really GOOD associate is probably NOT job searching. Like the best partners, s/he is working at a firm, happy as a clam in white sauce, with nary a thought of leaving. Oh, yeah, occasionally s/he'll look up from a file, sniff the air, and wonder "what's it like out there?", but, likely as not, the head will go right back down, nose into the file, and that's the end of it.
Sadly, the real world is nothing at all like Field of Dreams. If you build it THEY will NOT come. The OTHER ONES will come. The ax-grinders. The politically motivated. The ones who're two seconds from turning into lawyer stew. The attorney who visits your portal on her own is looking because s/he HAS to, most of the time.
Legal Recruiters (at least the good ones) find MOST of their candidates at firms where they're already successful, working toward partnership (or already partners), enjoying significant success, and with no plan to leave. So why DO they leave? Because attorneys are attorneys. Face it, most atttorneys, while not easily recognizable as human, have a couple of similar characteristics: Smart, driven, goal-directed, performance-oriented, looking for a challenge, and always, ALWAYS wanting to do, you know, MORE with themselves. It's why they BECAME attorneys in the first place.
WHY WORK WITH A LEGAL RECRUITER?:
1. LAW FIRMS: If you're a law firm, it can make your life a LOT easier. First of all, the recruiter can cut through at least the first and SECOND pass of resumes. Recruiters, unlike lawyers, only get ONE chance to hit the ball out of the park. We may be smelly, unpleasant, evil-tempered, and incivil, but we know what side our bread is buttered on, how much butter is on the bread, and whose knife it was that buttered it. I have less than no interest in sending you one candidate; I want you to hire at least a DOZEN candidates. I want you to call me EVERY time you need to fill a position, because, despite the fact that I'm a VERY SLOW learner, I do one thing VERY well. . .I respond to money. And I don't get paid if I don't find the best possible candidate.
At least, I shouldn't. . . .If your recruiter isn't looking for the best candidates; if s/he just goes around "hanging paper" on you; if they don't actively work to get and keep your business; if your recruiter doesn't say stuff like "I'm looking for a lawyer with a heavy bat" and stuff like that, lose them like a mullet. Your recruiter should be an arrogant snob who only wants to work with the very best lawyers, law firms, staff, and people. S/he should be money-and-performance driven. When you have an opening, s/he should be on you for so much detail, you wonder if they're building your candidate in their garage.
And when they find the right candidate, you should pay and pay and pay and pay. So many law firms have such ridiculous restrictions and conditions on payment that JoeRecruiter won't work for them anymore. Here are the rules: 25% of the first year base comp., payable within 10 days of offer and acceptance. If they leave within 90 days, other than death or incapacitation, you should get another free placement, within 60-90 days. If they die or become incapacitated, you eat it. If a suitable replacement cannot be found, you get a pro-rated refund. However, the law firm should use its best efforts to accept a replacement and not just let the time run in order to collect a refund like some scumbag. Large groups are subject to NEGOTIATION, reasonable NEGOTIATION.
JoeRecruiter knows one BigLaw firm that had a rule that they'd only pay on the first TWO partners in a multi-partner deal. Guess who couldn't find six partners ANYWHERE? The partner group they were wooing knew about this rule, so they held out, refusing to go with BigLaw. They went with the recruiter anyway on another deal, and made sure the recruiter got paid. Only this time, they took associates with them.
Oh, the stories JoeRecruiter could tell. Here's one: BigLawCentral pays, um, "lower than market" anyway, but, if they use a recruiter a second time within a one-year period, they pay even LESS. Guess which recruiter won't work for BLC? Most of them.
Look, you're either PROVIDING dinner, or you ARE dinner. If you don't want to work with a legal recruiter, that's just FINE with JoeRecruiter. . .you just became PREY. Joe will never EVER take candidates from a client firm, EVER. Joe will get up EXTRA early to take candidates from a law firm that doesn't use him for recruiting. Why? Hey, the candidates have to come from SOMEWHERE, and, uh, YOU'RE IT! Just remember, you're either a client, or you're LUNCH. Your call. And, by the way, if you sign a contract with me, but never hire one of my candidates, I'll run, not walk, to cancel that contract, and I'll take your very best pratice group to your number one competitor. I PROMISE you, they'd LOVE to pay my fee.
Bottom line: Legal Recruiters work for a fee. It's a fair amount for the work we do, and we earn it, believe me. In fact, after the first few placements (sometimes, after the FIRST placement) most Law Firm Recruiters are so grateful for the help, we almost become part of their in-house staff. Did I mention we also accept performance bonuses gracefully?
2. CANDIDATES: Why should YOU work with a Legal Recruiter? Well, first of all, when you go to a website, whether it's "LawRUs," or even BigLaw, you become one of a very large pile of resumes that only the truly bored ever look at, and then, only when there's an opening. One BigLaw firm told Joe, when they were explaining why they didn't need him, that they received over 700 resumes a DAY, so they would NEVER need his services. "As you can see," said Hortense the Imperturbable, "we have more people who want to be here than we'll ever have room for." Yeah, sign me up to be part of THAT crowd.
Joe thinks you should find a Legal Recruiter you like, whose personality works for you. If and when a recruiter calls, keep an open mind and ask questions. Send the res. for review if asked. However, make SURE the recruiter knows it's just for REVIEW, and canNOT be submitted without your EXPRESS permission. If you're going to work with a recruiter, I'd work with, at most, ONE at a time, and send general cancellation letters to ALL OTHERS, as well as an authorization letter to that specific recruiter, identifying him or her as your EXCLUSIVE representative for the time being (it could be a week, it could be ONE submission, until further notice, whatever; you're a lawyer, you decide).
Whoever you go with, be prepared to WORK. Your Legal Recruiter is going to try to represent you in your best light, but, remember, s/he has a reputation and an ongoing relationship with most of the people to whom s/he'll be presenting you to. Make sure they know EVERYTHING, good or bad, so they can know how to present you in your best possible light. BTW, if you ever lie to a Legal Recruiter, they'll probably drop you like a hot potato, and the word will spread throughout the legal community that you're poison (they won't say anything; just saying "we no longer represent that person" without elaboration is enough). Just don't do it.
Sometimes Joe is asked if candidates and Recruiters should meet. A LOT of Recruiters say yes. In Joe's experience, these are the Large, Multi-Office SuperRecruiters with a presence in every legal market in the US. But unless you're meeting with YOUR specific recruiter, and that person is PERSONALLY shopping your resume to EACH person to whom they submit, Joe doesn't see a difference. Joe recruits all over the country, and travels all over, in order to meet with clients and candidates, but not at the same time, and not in the same place every time. So it's not always possible to meet personally with every single client OR candidate every single time. It hasn't seemed to have hurt these relationships, but, of course, it'd have to be your call.
Finally, what's with all the movement? Is it ever going to go away? Joe says no, not for a while yet. Part of it is the increasing social mobility in the Lawyering ranks. Part of it is the multiple-profession household. But a lot of it is the broken contract between old line law firms and young attorneys, as much as Joe hates to say it. There was a time when a young attorney came out of school, found a law firm, worked hard for five, six years, and could become partner. There was incentive to stay, to work, to earn, and to learn. Older lawyers in the firm were willing to give up a portion of their ownership in order to insure that the firm would survive them. Younger attorneys were willing to invest time, effort, and the other, more "ineffable" factors in order to become part of something bigger than just their individual contributions. And the cycle perpetuated itself.
Lately though, something has changed. Non-equity Partnerships, Extended Associateships, and all the other formulaic changes have made it clear to young lawyers that there's no longer any guarantee of eventual ownership at many law firms. This has caused a significant number of them to make sure they're always positioned to move, and the smart ones are always prepared to do so. Even partners know that their positions may be untenable in some firms. Accordingly, the movement in the profession has gone from about 6-7% annually to 12+% annually in about a decade with signs that churn will increase over time. What does that mean? More people moving more places more often.
So, what is the future of Legal Recruiting in the United States? Is it likely to change much in the future? JoeRecruiter says "Baby, we're just getting started!"
However, JoeRecruiter, after, frankly, YEARS of listening to the whining, the crying, the shrill, constant BEGGING, is here for you, my young scholars. Yes, like Sister Mary, I'm going to "Explain It All" for you. With considerably less bloodshed, I hope. And infinitely less humor.
First, the rules. We gots to have rules. They are few, but vital. First, this is a collection of wisdom gleaned, collected, in some cases beaten out of Legal Recruiters, Associates, Law Firms, Law Firm Recruiters, and various and sundry other folks, some of them even more unsavory than the abovementioned. Second, all the stories are to some extent true. That is to say, the essential facts are true. However, I might have changed a fact here or there to protect the name of a BigLaw firm, for which I doubt I'll ever receive any credit. On the other hand, I might have blamed a BigLaw firm when really it was Ma-N-Pa-Law. I'm crafty that way. Third, you will most likely recognize yourself in these lines, so don't look too closely. Fourth, in the movies, you learned that, sometimes, resistance is NOT futile. Here, it almost certainly is.
So, what is it about Law Firms, and Law Firm Recruiting in general, that generates SO MUCH trouble in the profession? Could it be that Lawyers are just dyspeptic in general? (Yes). Could it be that the very things that make them good at Lawyering are the very things that lead to so much professional dissatisfaction? (Yes). Could it be that I'm just wasting time trying to find out how to lead in to the cold, bloody meat of the subject? (Again, yes).
Here it is then: Lawyers are trained to be unsatisfied with surface elements, to dig and probe, and search, and analyze, and look even deeper. Applied to themselves, this quickly becomes a source of immense professional dissatisfaction. Some, who, prior to this awareness were always capable of sublimating their dissatisfaction into a drive for performance lose the ability, and they leave the profession.
However, before it gets to that, many in the profession look to change jobs, and that's where I come in. Or rather me and others like me (to be completely accurate, others who aspire to BE like me). Law Firms don't particularly care for outside Legal Recruiters either because they're a) they're dorks; or b) they have WAAAAAAYYYYYY too much time on their hands; or c) both, plus they're filled with control freaks, too; and d) they're tight-asses, and don't know how to spend money wisely. We'll deal with this last one later.
However, it's a total waste of time for most law firms to select lateral associates virtually anytime. First of all, there are too many to go through, unless you have nothing better to do. Second, any really GOOD associate is probably NOT job searching. Like the best partners, s/he is working at a firm, happy as a clam in white sauce, with nary a thought of leaving. Oh, yeah, occasionally s/he'll look up from a file, sniff the air, and wonder "what's it like out there?", but, likely as not, the head will go right back down, nose into the file, and that's the end of it.
Sadly, the real world is nothing at all like Field of Dreams. If you build it THEY will NOT come. The OTHER ONES will come. The ax-grinders. The politically motivated. The ones who're two seconds from turning into lawyer stew. The attorney who visits your portal on her own is looking because s/he HAS to, most of the time.
Legal Recruiters (at least the good ones) find MOST of their candidates at firms where they're already successful, working toward partnership (or already partners), enjoying significant success, and with no plan to leave. So why DO they leave? Because attorneys are attorneys. Face it, most atttorneys, while not easily recognizable as human, have a couple of similar characteristics: Smart, driven, goal-directed, performance-oriented, looking for a challenge, and always, ALWAYS wanting to do, you know, MORE with themselves. It's why they BECAME attorneys in the first place.
WHY WORK WITH A LEGAL RECRUITER?:
1. LAW FIRMS: If you're a law firm, it can make your life a LOT easier. First of all, the recruiter can cut through at least the first and SECOND pass of resumes. Recruiters, unlike lawyers, only get ONE chance to hit the ball out of the park. We may be smelly, unpleasant, evil-tempered, and incivil, but we know what side our bread is buttered on, how much butter is on the bread, and whose knife it was that buttered it. I have less than no interest in sending you one candidate; I want you to hire at least a DOZEN candidates. I want you to call me EVERY time you need to fill a position, because, despite the fact that I'm a VERY SLOW learner, I do one thing VERY well. . .I respond to money. And I don't get paid if I don't find the best possible candidate.
At least, I shouldn't. . . .If your recruiter isn't looking for the best candidates; if s/he just goes around "hanging paper" on you; if they don't actively work to get and keep your business; if your recruiter doesn't say stuff like "I'm looking for a lawyer with a heavy bat" and stuff like that, lose them like a mullet. Your recruiter should be an arrogant snob who only wants to work with the very best lawyers, law firms, staff, and people. S/he should be money-and-performance driven. When you have an opening, s/he should be on you for so much detail, you wonder if they're building your candidate in their garage.
And when they find the right candidate, you should pay and pay and pay and pay. So many law firms have such ridiculous restrictions and conditions on payment that JoeRecruiter won't work for them anymore. Here are the rules: 25% of the first year base comp., payable within 10 days of offer and acceptance. If they leave within 90 days, other than death or incapacitation, you should get another free placement, within 60-90 days. If they die or become incapacitated, you eat it. If a suitable replacement cannot be found, you get a pro-rated refund. However, the law firm should use its best efforts to accept a replacement and not just let the time run in order to collect a refund like some scumbag. Large groups are subject to NEGOTIATION, reasonable NEGOTIATION.
JoeRecruiter knows one BigLaw firm that had a rule that they'd only pay on the first TWO partners in a multi-partner deal. Guess who couldn't find six partners ANYWHERE? The partner group they were wooing knew about this rule, so they held out, refusing to go with BigLaw. They went with the recruiter anyway on another deal, and made sure the recruiter got paid. Only this time, they took associates with them.
Oh, the stories JoeRecruiter could tell. Here's one: BigLawCentral pays, um, "lower than market" anyway, but, if they use a recruiter a second time within a one-year period, they pay even LESS. Guess which recruiter won't work for BLC? Most of them.
Look, you're either PROVIDING dinner, or you ARE dinner. If you don't want to work with a legal recruiter, that's just FINE with JoeRecruiter. . .you just became PREY. Joe will never EVER take candidates from a client firm, EVER. Joe will get up EXTRA early to take candidates from a law firm that doesn't use him for recruiting. Why? Hey, the candidates have to come from SOMEWHERE, and, uh, YOU'RE IT! Just remember, you're either a client, or you're LUNCH. Your call. And, by the way, if you sign a contract with me, but never hire one of my candidates, I'll run, not walk, to cancel that contract, and I'll take your very best pratice group to your number one competitor. I PROMISE you, they'd LOVE to pay my fee.
Bottom line: Legal Recruiters work for a fee. It's a fair amount for the work we do, and we earn it, believe me. In fact, after the first few placements (sometimes, after the FIRST placement) most Law Firm Recruiters are so grateful for the help, we almost become part of their in-house staff. Did I mention we also accept performance bonuses gracefully?
2. CANDIDATES: Why should YOU work with a Legal Recruiter? Well, first of all, when you go to a website, whether it's "LawRUs," or even BigLaw, you become one of a very large pile of resumes that only the truly bored ever look at, and then, only when there's an opening. One BigLaw firm told Joe, when they were explaining why they didn't need him, that they received over 700 resumes a DAY, so they would NEVER need his services. "As you can see," said Hortense the Imperturbable, "we have more people who want to be here than we'll ever have room for." Yeah, sign me up to be part of THAT crowd.
Joe thinks you should find a Legal Recruiter you like, whose personality works for you. If and when a recruiter calls, keep an open mind and ask questions. Send the res. for review if asked. However, make SURE the recruiter knows it's just for REVIEW, and canNOT be submitted without your EXPRESS permission. If you're going to work with a recruiter, I'd work with, at most, ONE at a time, and send general cancellation letters to ALL OTHERS, as well as an authorization letter to that specific recruiter, identifying him or her as your EXCLUSIVE representative for the time being (it could be a week, it could be ONE submission, until further notice, whatever; you're a lawyer, you decide).
Whoever you go with, be prepared to WORK. Your Legal Recruiter is going to try to represent you in your best light, but, remember, s/he has a reputation and an ongoing relationship with most of the people to whom s/he'll be presenting you to. Make sure they know EVERYTHING, good or bad, so they can know how to present you in your best possible light. BTW, if you ever lie to a Legal Recruiter, they'll probably drop you like a hot potato, and the word will spread throughout the legal community that you're poison (they won't say anything; just saying "we no longer represent that person" without elaboration is enough). Just don't do it.
Sometimes Joe is asked if candidates and Recruiters should meet. A LOT of Recruiters say yes. In Joe's experience, these are the Large, Multi-Office SuperRecruiters with a presence in every legal market in the US. But unless you're meeting with YOUR specific recruiter, and that person is PERSONALLY shopping your resume to EACH person to whom they submit, Joe doesn't see a difference. Joe recruits all over the country, and travels all over, in order to meet with clients and candidates, but not at the same time, and not in the same place every time. So it's not always possible to meet personally with every single client OR candidate every single time. It hasn't seemed to have hurt these relationships, but, of course, it'd have to be your call.
Finally, what's with all the movement? Is it ever going to go away? Joe says no, not for a while yet. Part of it is the increasing social mobility in the Lawyering ranks. Part of it is the multiple-profession household. But a lot of it is the broken contract between old line law firms and young attorneys, as much as Joe hates to say it. There was a time when a young attorney came out of school, found a law firm, worked hard for five, six years, and could become partner. There was incentive to stay, to work, to earn, and to learn. Older lawyers in the firm were willing to give up a portion of their ownership in order to insure that the firm would survive them. Younger attorneys were willing to invest time, effort, and the other, more "ineffable" factors in order to become part of something bigger than just their individual contributions. And the cycle perpetuated itself.
Lately though, something has changed. Non-equity Partnerships, Extended Associateships, and all the other formulaic changes have made it clear to young lawyers that there's no longer any guarantee of eventual ownership at many law firms. This has caused a significant number of them to make sure they're always positioned to move, and the smart ones are always prepared to do so. Even partners know that their positions may be untenable in some firms. Accordingly, the movement in the profession has gone from about 6-7% annually to 12+% annually in about a decade with signs that churn will increase over time. What does that mean? More people moving more places more often.
So, what is the future of Legal Recruiting in the United States? Is it likely to change much in the future? JoeRecruiter says "Baby, we're just getting started!"
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